2017 News

Shin-Etsu announces silicone products price increase

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Tokyo, President Yasuhiko Saitoh) announced that it is going to increase the prices both in Japan and globally of all of its silicone products, one of Shin-Etsu's main business segments.

The cost of silicon metal, the main raw material of silicones, is rising. A key background factor contributing to this situation is that in China, which is a major world silicon metal producer, manufacturing costs are rising due to the steep price increase for the raw material silica as well as that of the carbon electrodes and coal that are used in the production process for silicon metal. An additional background factor contributing to rising costs is the stoppage in the operations of plants that are unable to comply with China's environmental regulations. As a result, a decline in the amount of supply is continuing. For these reasons, the price of silicon metal is expected to continue to further rise.
Furthermore, the cost of the energy that is necessary for the manufacturing of silicones as well as transportation costs and secondary materials costs are also rising.

It has become difficult to absorb the entire amount of these increased costs only by means of our own company's efforts to reduce manufacturing costs. Unavoidably, it has become necessary to reflect a portion of these increased costs in the sales price of our silicone products.
We respectfully ask for your understanding of the above-mentioned situation and of the reasons why this sales price increase has become necessary

Applicable products:
All silicone products that are handled by Shin-Etsu's Silicone Division

Price revision rate:
10-20% increases in all products

Timing of implementation:
Effective for product shipments made starting from January 2018.